Second in Command Warhammer 40k Story
by greenterror88
Summary: Janis joined his planets militia for the extra credits and other benefits. He never dreamed, or wanted, to use the training and weapons he was provided. Now he is on the front lines of an Ork invasion and his only job is to hold the line for as long as possible. Thanks for reading! Done with this character for now. I'll be posting another story soon.
1. Chapter 1

Janis had only held a rifle three times in his life. The first time was when he had learned to operate and fire the simple laslock he was issued upon joining the militia of his planet. Each militiaman was required to remain proficient with their rifle and keep it in good working order on the off chance their was a need to call in the citizen militia. Janis had excelled during his training and was awarded the rank of Corporal upon his graduation. He was also paid a stipend of an extra one hundred credits per month for his duties as a militiaman. In return for these 100 credits Janis was obligated to serve in any major conflict that arose on his planet and was required to respond to any major citizen revolts or riots. There had not been a major conflict for well over fifty years and he had only responded to one riot which lasted only eight days, so Janis was happy for the extra credits in his pocket for the relatively little work it took to earn them.

The second time Janis held his laslock was for his official Militia photo. The women at the pubs always seemed more eager to talk after seeing him in his milita uniform.

Unfortunately for Janis the third time Janis held his laslock was at the bottom of a trench dug outside of his cities walls.

The Orks had come quickly out from the dessert plains. The last time the Orks had been a problem was ancient history to Janis. They had ravaged the world over 50 years ago, but were finally destroyed and driven back into the waste lands which separated each major population center. Janis' people did not believe anything could survive out in the vast wasteland, but the Orks seemed to have thrived in the dessert. They came riding machines that only Orks could operate. On wagons and buggies ranging from wood to plated steel stolen from scrap yards and built from whatever else the Orks could scavenge.

The Planetary Defense Force was quickly dispatched to destroy the xenos, but everyone on the planet know they were poorly trained and equipped. It was common knowledge that the PDF stood little chance against the ferocity of the attacking Orks, and that their real goal would be to hold the Orks back for as long as possible until the Imperial Guard arrived. The PDF made their stand on the outskirts of the dessert in order to stop the Orks from reaching the major population centers until they could be relived. Janis had heard the rumors that some PDF units were already being overwhelmed and he knew that this meant the Orks were headed straight toward the militia units surrounding the cities

The PDF was the standing army of the planet, but the militia was the secondary defense force. While the PDF rode out to confront the Ork threat the milita prepared the defenses of the city as best as they could. Trenches were dug at the outskirts of the city and the milita stood guard with orders to defend their trench until they were relieved, or until they were killed to the last man and woman. No one expected the milita to hold long when the Orks reached the city. Janis was fully prepared to die defending his city and knew now was the time he would pay for all the benefits he had received as a member of the milita.

The yelling of men from down the trench quickly drew Janis out of his morbid thoughts. He saw that the men were looking out over the top while screaming and gesturing for men around them to make their weapons ready. Janis pulled himself to a better vantage point and poked his head out over the trench. The dust cloud over the approaching Ork hoard was immense. It made detailed description of the enemy force impossible, but Janis could tell some Orks rode in trucks, some on bikes and some simply ran toward the trench line. As the Orks drew closer and closer to the city Janis heard his officers screaming behind him to man the trenches and make their rifles ready.

Janis stood with his squad mates, not all of whom he knew personally, and aimed his laslock out over the trench at the incoming hoard of Orks. By now Janis could hear the bellowing of the Orks war cries and it terrified him to the core. The bellowing of the Orks was the sound of beings that lived for war and destruction. He knew that these would be his last minutes of life, but he also knew he would make the Emperor proud by defending his small piece of the trench line to his fullest potential.

The Orks drew so close that Janis could make out individual green blurs in the mass of the on coming hoard. Up and down the trench line small pockets of las fire rang out and hit the incoming wave of xenos, but the fire was poorly aimed and sporadic. It had little effect on the charging Orks. Janis and his squad held their fire waiting on their sergeant to give the order to fire. The laslock was an ancient las weapon design which favored power over capacity and did have a chance to injure the oncoming Ork hoarde, but firing now while the Orks were so far out was not effective. Janis and his squad knew their fire would be much more effective when firing en mass. After what seemed like entirely too long of a wait the sergeant finally screamed his order to fire.

Janis knew he had about ten fully charged shots with his laslock until he would be fighting with his combat knife and a small autopistol he wore on his hip. Every man in the militia was issued a laslock with one ten charge clip and a combat knife. Janis had purchased the autopistol a few years back to wear for his protection during his business in the hive. It and the combat pistol would be next to useless once the Orks got in so close so Janis was determined to make every shot count with his laslock.

Janis took aim at one of the green masses that was sprinting toward the trenches and fired a single shot with his laslock. The shot was a good (or lucky) one and it struck the Ork square in the chest. The beast fell and for a fraction of a second Janis felt hope. His positive feelings were quickly crushed when he saw the same beast he had hit get up and continue to run toward the trench line. It was in that moment that Janis decided he was going to die, but he was going to take as many Orks as he could with him. Maybe that way he could hold his head high when he met the Emperor.

Janis' second shot hit the same Ork in the head. This time the Ork collapsed and did not recover. Eight shots left, and Janis would make every one count.

Unfortunately Janis did not have time to take aim for a third shot. Wild screaming and grunting from further down the trench line pulled his attention away from the on coming Orks. Scanning for the noise that distracted him revealed that the Orks had already made the trench line and were among the militia defenders. Janis saw the Orks tearing apart his friends by hacking and slashing with their large cleavers. Janis's sergeant bellowed for his squad to fix their bayonets and to prepare a firing line. The trench was just wide enough for four men to kneel and fire down toward the Orks with the other members of the squad standing behind them. The squad let loose a volley of las fire which was extremely effective at the close range. Both militiamen and Orks fell to their concentrated las fire. Janis knew the men down the trench line were already dead and felt no remorse at firing in their direction. He knew they would have done the same if the roles were reversed.

The revving of the sergeants chainsword caused Janis to spin on his knee and turn to face the opposite side of the trench. The sergeant was defending himself from powerful blows from a hulking Ork that was armed with the largest two headed axe Janis had ever seen or imagined. His sergeant was a skilled swordsman and Janis had never seen him bested in training or tournament duels. It looked like those duels meant nothing now. The sergeant was simply not prepared for the ferocity or power of his enemy and the Ork quickly batted the sergeants chainsword from his grasp. Unarmed, the sergeant was splint in two from head to feet by a powerful swing from the Ork's axe.

Janis and his squad-mates instinctively fired into the Ork and the xenos was blown apart by their combined fire. As the corporal Janis was now in command, but he had no illusions as to the outcome of this battle. Hopefully his men understood their only goal now was to sell their lives as slowly as possible to give the city a chance to evacuate. Janis screamed for his squad to move down the trench line and be prepared for enemy contact. He had no plan and no illusions of living for more then a few minutes. He hoped he sounded much stronger then he felt.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
After moving down the trench line, slowly making their way back towards the city, Janis' squad had come across only dead bodies. The bodies were both Ork and human but the human bodies out numbered the xenos by far. Janis could tell the militia simply was not equipped to deal with this level of invasion. He knew the PDF was supposed to be dealing with threats of this level, but they were overwhelmed almost immediately. The militia was never supposed to be a stand alone military force and now that it was operating as such the weakness of the militia was obvious.

Janis knew he needed to do something if only for the sake of the morale of the men around him. By keeping the men moving he hoped it would keep them from succumbing to the terror of their situation. Janis' plan was to move back toward the city and kill as many Orks as possible on the way until his squad was wiped out. Not the best plan, Janis thought, but the only plan he had any confidence in.

There were eight of them left. The sergeant was killed by a massive Ork cleaver and one other member of the squad was either missing or killed during the confusion of the attack. Janis asked around to see if anyone knew what had happened to the other member of their squad, but no one had noticed what happened to their squad-mate. Janis knew everyone must be low on charges for their laslocks and his first priority would be to find ammunition and spare weapons.

Janis could hear howls and screams in the direction of the city, but the trenchline was clear for now. He knew this meant that the Orks had swept past the militia and were on their way to the city and the civilians that lived inside. Janis lifted himself up over the trench and motioned for his men to follow. Spreading out the men moved slowly back toward the city while keeping aware of their surroundings for signs of the enemy.

The militia trenchline was only a few hundred yards outside of the city. The weakness of this plan now was obvious. The proximity of the trenchline to the city allowed the Orks to be within the city limits almost immediately after overwhelming the militia defenders. On their short trip back to the city Janis noted how odd it was that no Orks remained outside of the city or followed the Orks initial attack.

Janis and his squad quickly found a ruined building to rest inside of. Janis' plan of killing as many Orks as possible until the squad was destroyed still seemed like the best option, but Janis did not want to give his life and the lives of his men without at least a small benefit to their homeworld. He informed the men they would make for the transportation district in the center of the city. The civilians still alive would undoubtedly be moving in that direction in order to flee the city, and if Janis and his squad could kill at least some Orks around the transportation district then maybe the squad would be the reason some civilians escaped the city.

Almost immediately upon making his decision Janis heard the sound of Orks moving outside of the ruined building. Janis dared a glance out into the street and saw a small mob of ten xenos. The Orks seemed to be intent on moving toward an unknown objective down the road from the building Janis and his squad had taken refuge in. It would have been simple to sit quietly and let them pass, but Janis knew that if he let these Orks pass he would not be able to go to his final judgement with confidence. Janis signaled to his men to quietly take up ambush positions and made it clear that he would take the first shot. Once Janis confirmed his men were in position he fired his laslock at an Ork that was slightly larger then the others in the group. The lasbolt flew from the building and struck the moving Ork in the shoulder. Janis saw the Ork drop but knew that it was not mortally wounded. A second passed, the rest of the squad opened fire into the Ork mob. The opening salvo of the ambush was extremely effective, and with further urging from Janis to continue their fire, the squad wiped out the small Ork mob.

Janis and his men had no time to celebrate their victory. As soon as the ambush was complete Janis and his men saw a gigantic Ork, the largest any of them had seen this far, below and point to the building the men had taken shelter in. Behind the large Ork and its gesturing arm was a large mob of roughly two dozen Orks. The Orks followed the direction of their leader and begin to sprint toward Janis and his men inside the ruined building. Janis and his squad were low on ammunition before their ambush, and now Janis realized they must be close to running out of ammunition all together.


	3. Chapter 3

The gigantic Ork and his mob sprinted toward Janis and his men. Janis realized he had little time to decide what his men could do about their current situation. The Orks were less then one hundred yards away from the building and their gunfire now clattered inaccurately off the side of the building. Janis yelled to his men to open fire. He knew this would be their last salvo, but he also knew they would have little chance to use their laslocks when the Orks were among them. The squad fired their weapons and they were rewarded as a handful of the charging Orks collapsed.

Not enough, Janis thought, the las-fire killed only a handful of Orks and now his men were completely out of ammunition. Janis drew the small auto-pistol he kept at his waist and his combat knife. Instructing his men to draw their own side arms. Janis noted the variety of equipment within his squad. Two men had auto-pistols and knives, one a las-pistol only and the others simply fixed their bayonets to their laslocks. Janis did not like their chances against so many Orks with such ineffective weapons.

Janis yelled for the men with bayonets to remain guarding the door while he led his remaining men up to the second level. Janis knew it was a long shot but he hoped to use the stairs as a choke point for the Orks. He and his men would die, but by using this tactic he would be able to kill as many Orks as possible. As soon as Janis and his men were set in their positions on top of the stairs the Orks burst through door at the ground floor. The four men guarding it seemed to be swept away by a green blur as the Orks ferocity proved to be too much for the militiamen. Janis and his remaining men opened fire with their sidearms. It was almost impossible to miss as the Orks flooded into the ground floor.

Janis and his men fired until their magazines went empty. They quickly fell back from their position at the top of the stairs and moved further toward the rear of the structure. Their small ambush from the top of the stairs had given Janis and his men some time to ready themselves, but Janis knew it would not be long before the Ork mob made its way up the stairs and were among his men.

Janis knew the Orks would soon fill the halls of the upper level of the building they occupied. He also knew his remaining men had no chance to fight off the approaching mob. While instructing his men to set up a firing position to hold off the Orks Janis searched frantically for something that would inspire a plan to see his men through the Ork assault. The building they had fled into seemed to be residential and had nothing which could be used against the Orks. Auto and las-pistol shot rang out to signal that the xenos had climbed the stairs. Janis returned to his men and added his pistol fire to the volley. Remarkably some Orks fell to their pistol shots, but quickly the first of the greenskins charged in and his men began fighting with knives and pistols at close quarters.

Janis' window of opportunity to develop an escape plan had closed. As he realized this would be were he and his men would die an Ork with a large cleaver swung crazily at Janis' head. After ducking quickly under the Ork's swing Janis rose quickly with all of his strength and slammed his combat knife home under the Ork's jaw. Moving quickly backwards after his strike Janis saw the xenos hacking at two militiamen like butchers carving meat. The remaining militiamen fell back from the Ork onslaught. One man dropped immediately after his chest exploded from the impact of an Ork slug. Another militiaman charged forward with the Emperors name on his lips. His brave charge was quickly halted by the Orks counter-charge. Janis saw the brave man cut down as soon as he reached the Orks. As he fell back to the end of the hall Janis realized he was the only man of his squad left. With a wall at his back and three Orks in front of him ready to hack him apart Janis knew he would die quickly and prepared himself for the Ork assault.

Before the Orks could move in to finish him off Janis heard an explosion of las-fire erupt from behind the xenos. Janis dropped to the ground and saw the Orks being cut down quickly and efficiently. A man walked down the corridor toward Janis and extended his hand in assistance. After gladly accepting the helping hand Janis stood and looked upon the heavily armored man wielding what looked like a high powered las-rifle.

"Merrick" the soldier introduced himself. Janis introduced himself as a Corporal in the planet's militia. "Not anymore. The Orks have been driven out of the city, but they did not come this way on their own. Something much worse pushed them in the direction of the city and we need all the men we can get to fight off this new threat. You are a Guardsmen now with the Cadian 8th."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Janis jogged along behind the Cadians who had come to his rescue. After slaughtering the Orks who had easily killed his squadmates Merrick gave Janis a laspistol and told him to keep pace on their march toward the spaceport. It was there that they would receive further orders from their commander Merrick also had told him. Janis could not believe that he was the sole survivor of his squads encounters with the Orks. Just a few short days ago he had been a normal man living a quiet life on his home planet, and now he was marching with Imperial veterans towards Emperor only knew what.

Janis looked up from his thoughts and saw that they were quickly approaching the spaceport. Large troop carriers landed and took off in rapid succession. At this rate thousands of troops must be moving Janis thought. But where were they going? The Orks were here in the city, but by the looks of it the Imperial Guard were pulling out.

"Over here squad!" Merrick yelled snapping Janis out of his thoughts. "The CO wants us to get on

a transport ship ASAP. From there we head toward the enemy to conduct an assault on their base of operations. Gear up and get moving!"

Janis followed the lead of the other men in the squad who ran over to a large open-sided tent. Inside there were huge crates filled with power packs, bayonets and other gear. On the other side of the crates were racks filled with lasguns. Janis grabbed a lasgun and as many power packs as he could stuff into his cargo pockets. He did not know where they were going or who he was fighting but he would not be short on ammunition when he got there.

Janis continued to outfit himself with the equipment in the tent and listened to the men around him, "I heard from a buddy of mine working over in the Generals Staff that we are headed to the Orks encampment to find the Warboss and put the filthy xenos down. Once its dead the Orks will have a lot less fight in them". The other men around Janis all agreed with this and seemed no more worried about assaulting an Ork stronghold then they would be if they were just told the recafe had run out. These men had been raised since birth to be Soldiers, Janis realized, and he was completely out of place and out of his depth among them. He did not count on living past this next battle. A servant of the Emperor only could count on so much luck during the 41st milenium.


End file.
